As with previous announcements, entrants are divided between legacy institutions and startups building on the ethereum blockchain. Included on the list is Mastercard, Cisco Systems, Scotiabank, Loyyal Corporation and QIWI Blockchain Technologies, among 29 other firms.

But the member that perhaps stands out most in this latest batch of companies is the government of the rapidly growing Andhra Pradesh state in India, the first state government outside the US to join the alliance.

The special chief secretary and IT advisor to the state's chief minister, J.A. Chowdary, described in a statement the government's ambition to leverage the membership as a way to turn the region into a financial technology tech hub.

Chowdary said:

"We are keen on integrating blockchain technology into governance and look forward to our collaboration with Enterprise Ethereum Alliance and provide market access to the community."

The state of Andhra Pradesh, perhaps best known for its capital, Hyderabad, is only the second government to join the EEA, following the State of Illinois, which joined in May.

Other new members include Antibiotic Research UK, the Technical University of Munich and Ypse IT Solutions. Blockchain startup Bloq is also included on the list, but was previously reported by CoinDesk as having joined the initiative.

Still, today's announcement brings the EEA's total membership to 150 organizations, all of which have joined the consortium since its launch this February.

The EEA describes itself as a standards group designed to help enterprises build their own interoperable technology, mostly using private versions of the ethereum blockchain.

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EEA's chairman of the board, Julio Faura, said in a statement:

"The technological breadth, depth and variety of organizations coming together under the auspices of EEA to create and drive enterprise Ethereum standards bodes well for the future development of the next-generation Ethereum ecosystem."

Hyderabad image via Shutterstock

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